The Patterns of Democratic Backsliding : A systematic comparison of Hungary, Turkey and Venezuela

This dissertation attempts to answer the research question on whether there is a common pattern of democratic backsliding. Levitsky and Ziblatt’s theoretical model of democratic backsliding is utilized as the guiding theory. The theory suggests that Democratic Backsliding has three stages where different goals are attempted to be achieved. The goals are first to take over state institutions, thereafter to use these institutions to target political opponents and protect the government from criticism. The third stage concerns entrenching the political dominance. The research question is answered by a systematic comparison of Hungary, Turkey and Venezuela. The results are that each case does follow the suggested path of democratic backsliding, with certain differences. More emphasis is put on the media, election monitoring, and how the institutions are controlled. The institutions are often taken control over by hijacking the nomination process, a fact overlooked by the theoretical model. These aspects are not expanded on in the theoretical model, and this dissertation suggest adding these to the model